Guitar Hero World Tour won't condone your awful cover songs

by Ludwig Kietzmann { Sep 29th 2008 at 4:25PM }

"We can't condone people putting up covers of music. It's really there for original content." That's the word from Guitar Hero World Tour director Brian Bright, who's well aware that his upcoming game's music creator may also double as a copyright infringer. Speaking to 1UP, Bright explained that uploaded, custom-made tunes will be monitored by Activision and indiscriminately yanked should they contain any suspiciously familiar riffs.

"If there's a licensed song and someone holds the copyright to it, we'll take it down regardless of whether or not someone complains," added Bright. We sincerely hope this gives you pause before you decide to share your unoriginal, ill-advised rendition of "Motel" California with the rest of the world.

Guitar Hero World Tour and its 86 master tracks are out on October 26th.

Tags: Activision, Brian-Bright, Copyright, Guitar-Hero, Guitar-Hero-World-Tour, Neversoft

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Lone Starr @ Sep 29th 2008 4:36PM

I'm shocked....

supakoopa @ Sep 29th 2008 4:39PM

Well there goes the "You can make any song you want" arguement against Rockbands DLC.

KeenCommander @ Sep 29th 2008 5:41PM

No it doesn't, you can "make" any song you like - as long as you don't post it to the web. You just can't download every song ever written, you've got to do the work yourself.

Personally, I really am not convinced it's going to be elaborate enough for to anyone to create (effectively) songs beyond basic alt. rock that are recognizable enough that anyone would actually want to play them.

supakoopa @ Sep 29th 2008 5:46PM

Okay, let me correct myself; you won't be able to play a nice sounding recording unless you waste enough of your life to master a song maker in Guitar Hero. Sounds a lot nicer that way, huh?

VaultICEE @ Sep 29th 2008 7:15PM

Don't forget that this song maker has a limit of 3:00, only about 1000 notes, and no vocals.

I still don't understand why fanboys who are 12 years old can keep going on how GH will be better than RB "DLC"...

Hafk @ Sep 29th 2008 10:11PM

GH fanboys? Where? I haven't seen one on this website at all.

There are only RB fanboys and neutral parties.

quasebrasileiro @ Sep 29th 2008 4:39PM

Sure they have to SAY that...

Kael @ Sep 29th 2008 6:29PM

You're right. In order to help avoid lawsuits, they publicly can't endorse users mimicking known tracks, even though everyone knows that's the whole point. The ability to make original works is just a bonus.

Hafk @ Sep 30th 2008 5:50PM

Yeah. Besides, I don't think they will have people scoping through every song to delete them.

I think they will actually take the youtube apporach, and have copyright owners compain first, before removal.

Haggard (steam: haggard_dawn, PSN: HaggyWaggy) @ Sep 29th 2008 4:44PM

What if Soulja Boy makes his own song on it?

dark_inchworm @ Sep 29th 2008 5:22PM

With any luck, Neversoft will superman dat hoe.

drybones @ Sep 29th 2008 4:49PM

"We sincerely hope this gives you pause before you decide to share your unoriginal, ill-advised rendition of "Motel" California with the rest of the world."

I lol'd as i was thinking this exact thing to make on Guitar Hero 4 last night lol

oh well

Boffo the $ock @ Sep 29th 2008 4:50PM

So I won't get to play this classic?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkMWdI2IKiw

Dirty @ Sep 29th 2008 5:29PM

Ha, I was thinking the same thing.

Really, if this turns out anything like the crappy levels coming out of the little big planet beta, we are in for some horrible horrible music. Lets how the few gems that come out of it really shine.

Dirty @ Sep 29th 2008 5:41PM

*how* should read hope.

Tiptup300 @ Sep 29th 2008 11:02PM

I'd rather it on rock band, TBH.

Headcrash @ Sep 30th 2008 1:51AM

Sure, you can't add your own cover songs to the game, but you sure as hell can play with a giant orange penis on the stage. I mean, seriously. Lookit that thing.

AJ @ Sep 29th 2008 8:31PM

I was thinking the same thing. Joystiq.com, NSFW! LOL

Jakka(A tribute to whose who fought and failed during the Epic Flamewar of L.A. Noir and MR.ESC) @ Sep 29th 2008 4:56PM

Looking closely, I think it's actually a spaceship...

Professor Lario @ Sep 30th 2008 9:48AM

Haha... I had the very same thought... : )

Jakka(A tribute to whose who fought and failed during the Epic Flamewar of L.A. Noir and MR.ESC) @ Sep 29th 2008 5:00PM

I really hope they at least do some fan-service be adapting a "We're removing it...very slooooowly...." approach.

Honestly I don't mind people re-uploading Freebird after the "monthly cleansing".

Tez (PSN: Tezasaurus) @ Sep 29th 2008 5:00PM

No good will come of this. Points for effort, but it's just not going to work.

frzamonkey @ Sep 29th 2008 5:10PM

what is more shocking is that they really think that it is supposed to be for original compositions. when i first heard about the create-a-song feature, the first thing i thought of was "how close can i mimic songs i love that are never gonna be released as dlc?" i don't give a crap about original compositions, mostly because it is gonna devolve into "ttfaf"-like 133t noodley noodle fests.

Slaziman @ Sep 29th 2008 5:11PM

boring

i be jammin on a real guitar, guitar hero is a fun game to play, not to make note charts for

Macroy @ Sep 29th 2008 5:27PM

in b4 "hotel california is in the game"

Stupidiot @ Sep 29th 2008 6:31PM

Hotel California is pretty much ripped of from a Jethro Tull song anyways.

Morning Toast @ Sep 29th 2008 5:36PM

OK, that's great and all - I understand, gotta protect the copyright and so on...but then...

...they better have the songs we WANT so we don't have to create them. The best way to stop me from "covering" Tesla in GH4 is to let me download Tesla in GH4.

(BTW, where's the Tesla?! Seriously.)

Anam @ Sep 29th 2008 5:38PM

So... they're going to pay employees to sift through user-created songs and identify familiar ones? Sounds like that's going to cost some money unless they've somehow programmed a computer to have infinite knowledge of music and the nuance to know when one piece of music is original or not.

I wonder how exactly they intend to pay for this. I'd love to think that a video game company is going to pay employees to sit and filter through user-created content without users ever seeing an increased cost for the service, but I doubt that is realistic.

Switching now to a more optimistic view, perhaps they somehow are getting incentives from the music industry to try and protect copyrights? Maybe discounts on licensing songs? I hope that's the case.

Oh well, don't matter to me. Rock Band 2 '08!

FSK405K @ Sep 29th 2008 5:53PM

"should they contain any suspiciously familiar riffs" Watch out, my song will use the same notes that all other pieces of music ever use!

Debikul @ Sep 29th 2008 6:19PM

Wait a sec...you can make your own songs in this game?

WTF?

I didn't know this. Has anyone actually had some hands on with the song maker? If so...does it suck as much as the MTV Music Generator game that came out a while back?

Simon @ Sep 29th 2008 6:23PM

Wonder how they'll treat songs in the public domain, I know I'll be making Miserlou very early on.

Kellydude025 @ Sep 29th 2008 6:36PM

So... anyone wanna play Rock Band 2? I've got like 300 songs on it, so you're bound to find one you like...

Taco_Hell @ Sep 29th 2008 7:15PM

Shh, do you hear that? That's hundreds of mis-informed costumers canceling, or at least trying to cancel, they're pre-orders because they thought they would be able to recreate Stairway to Heaven.

brian @ Sep 29th 2008 7:22PM

"We sincerely hope this gives you pause before you decide to share your unoriginal, ill-advised rendition of "Motel" California with the rest of the world."

i laughed real fucking hard.

Alexander @ Sep 29th 2008 7:24PM

Pretty much makes the creation mode useless.....

JoeTheBlow @ Sep 30th 2008 3:53AM

Not really.
The PS3 version can import MIDI files, so they only need to be hosted somewhere.
You could probably even use the PS3 browser, go to a sharing site, and save it to the HD from there.
Import into GH and its done.

Redface @ Sep 29th 2008 8:50PM

This really really needs to be said:

To All GH modders who are excited about the song creator; DON'T FUCKING PUT IN ANYMORE FOUR-BUTTON CHORDS. Seriously. Cut that shit out.

Cian @ Sep 30th 2008 4:02PM

Or 5 for that matter. I've seen it done.

Thranx @ Sep 29th 2008 9:44PM

I refuse to purchase this game until they release the cowbell and tambourine expansion pack and peripherals.

Gaph2000 @ Sep 29th 2008 9:56PM

OK, so I know the Wii version lets you export custom songs to an SD card without any DRM crap (Not sure 'bout the other consoles), so won't that mean that there's bound to be some online unofficial community for sharing *those* songs?

Matt Z @ Sep 30th 2008 2:16AM

You know what this is gonna lead to.

Someone creating a website with templates that can distribute "copyrighted" song sheets that can be manually entered into the game. This will in essence circumvent the blocks that are being placed by Activision

Mimglow @ Sep 30th 2008 8:29AM

I'm actually surprised they came out and said this before launch. Seems like the kind of thing they'd make public after the fact. Credit to them, I guess.

DancnDude @ Sep 30th 2008 10:07AM

If they will be taking down any copyrighted songs, why not allow vocals then? They're supposedly only allowing "original content" anyways.

Hafk @ Sep 30th 2008 5:49PM

The instruments work on sounds already in the game. The vocals would require an actual track, which would make the songs considerably larger.

vkapadia @ Oct 14th 2008 6:28PM

You guys fail to see the big picture. How many times are people gonna put out a song with a really cool title, thats just a rework of Never Gonna Give You Up?

GUITAR HERO RICK ROLLING!

Steven @ Oct 15th 2008 9:49PM

I'm pretty sure that this only goes for things that are uploaded. if you want to enjoy covers at your own home, without distributing them at all, I'm pretty sure they can't do anything about it. Especially for PS2 owners, who don't have a network to be observed on.

nolifetileathr82 @ Oct 22nd 2008 8:27PM

somebody please answer this for me: i know you can create your own songs, but does that mean you can upload any song, say through a CD onto your harddrive, take that file, and then compose it into a Guitar Hero track with the sound of the file?....the way im seeing it now is that you can not do that and i really hope im wrong because it would be super awesome if you could use the sounds from an MP3 or MP4 file off a music device or CD. (this would be similar to how mods create their songs for Youtube videos).